THE HEAD of the school of languages at Trinity College Dublin has been awarded the Russian government’s prestigious Pushkin Medal.
Dr Sarah Smyth, author of several widely acclaimed Russian-language textbooks, received the award during a ceremony at the Kremlin yesterday.
The medal, which was instituted in 1999 to honour the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, is awarded annually to no more than 10 recipients in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the promotion of Russian language and culture in the world.
Previous recipients include former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and Czech president Vaclav Klaus.
“I am very touched, very honoured and indeed very proud to be included in the list of people who have been awarded the Pushkin Medal,” Dr Smyth said.
“In the context of Bono’s concert in Moscow and meeting with President Medvedev during the summer, President Mary McAleese’s visit to Russia in September and the Taoiseach’s planned trip in the coming year, the award highlights a significant shift in Irish-Russian relations and bodes well for future developments.”
Dr Smyth, who began studying Russian at TCD in the early 1980s, said she had dedicated her career to what she described as the “mission” of promoting Russian language, literature and culture.
Dr Smyth lamented that despite a gathering momentum in bilateral relations between Ireland and Russia, the number of people applying to study Russian at TCD has “probably never been lower”.
She recalled the language experiencing a surge of popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“I think people then considered Russia was going to become a real economic and trade partner, a land of opportunity. I would argue that it still is, but perceptions have changed, and that is very regrettable.”
Dr Smyth is involved in efforts to establish a Russian cultural centre in Dublin. She is also working on a research project on Russian speakers in Ireland. More than 100,000 people living here speak Russian as a significant other language. Most come from countries that were part of the former Soviet Union, particularly the Baltic states. They also include people from Asia and Africa who studied in the Soviet Union.